


BTS - Aftermath (Jungkook x Young-soon)

by Insfiringyou



Series: Headcanon Masterlist [73]
Category: K-pop, bts, 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Angst, Cheating, F/M, Gen, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-12
Updated: 2019-11-12
Packaged: 2021-02-01 05:42:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21401794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Insfiringyou/pseuds/Insfiringyou
Summary: Contains: Angst. Mentions of smut. Mentions of cheating.Set almost a week following the disastrous events of ‘A Celebration to Forget’, Jungkook’s girlfriend finds out about his moment of weakness at the party.This fic contains all members of BTS but centers around Jungkook and Young-soon. Jimin’s breakup with Angel is also mentioned as well as Suga’s relationship with Jeong-sun.Read all of Jungkook's headcanon fics to date in order here: https://insfiringyou.tumblr.com/post/185247961761/bts-jungkooks-headcanon-universe-ficsOur full masterlist can be found here: https://insfiringyou.tumblr.com/post/186757079501/bts-complete-masterlist
Relationships: Jeon Jungkook/Original Female Character(s), Min Yoongi | Suga/Original Female Character(s), Park Jimin (BTS)/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Headcanon Masterlist [73]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1237379
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	BTS - Aftermath (Jungkook x Young-soon)

PART ONE 

"You're pretty chirpy for someone who just got dumped." Taehyung commented from across the dining table, chopsticks in hand. Jimin swallowed his mouthful of Bulgogi, his bright smile slipping a fraction. 

"I wasn't dumped.” He protested, lowering his chopsticks. “It was mutual..."

"You mutually decided Angel would rather be fucking Donghyuk?" Asked Taehyung, dryly, his eyebrow cocking slightly.

"They've known each other for ages." Jimin replied easily with a shrug. "It was bound to happen." The breakup had come as a relief, if he had been honest with himself. Instead of feeling irritated by his nerve, he had been quick to reassure Donghyuk over text with a simple “Yeah, we’re cool,” and left the matter at that.

Sensing that the topic was closed, Taehyung turned his attention to the three seated at the end of the dinner table. "How come you all got back so late anyway? Did you get lucky, Yoongi?"

The elder of the three did not look up, sipping from his glass without much expression. "No." 

"We were waiting for Jungkook," piped up Hoseok, carefully avoiding eye contact. Taehyung suspected that no amount of sunshine yellow punch could have erased the memory for Hoseok of catching him perform oral sex on his girlfriend in the bathroom the previous evening. He sipped his glass of shiraz slowly, savouring it’s sweet, spicy flavour on his palette as he regarded the statement with intrigue. 

Jimin spoke first, his eyes sparkling with glee towards the maknae. "Did you get some?" 

"He has a girlfriend."Namjoon interjected, as though this settled the matter. The youngest man shifted uncomfortably in his seat, his face appearing a little blotchy in the light of the nearby wall lamp.

"I fell asleep." He squirmed. 

Nobody but Yoongi seemed to pay any attention to the way Jungkook tapped his chopsticks agitatedly against the edge of his bowl, its contents as full as it had been when he had received it. Feeling irked, Yoongi picked unenthusiastically at his own food, not really tasting it. Whilst he knew that whatever had happened with the woman in the blue pyjamas would not have happened were he sober, he simply could not understand how Jungkook could allow a moment of drunken boredom to escalate so wildly. The absent, sickly-looking expression on his face told Yoongi that he was also struggling with the thought and the older man felt a fleeting stab of pity for his friend’s inner turmoil, wondering whether he would be able to come to terms with what he had done. He thought, were Jungkook's relationship anything like his own with Jeong-sun, the damage would be too devastating to repair.

When they had all eaten their fill, it was the youngest of the group who was first to gather his jacket and make his way to the exit, closely tailed by Jimin and Taehyung. Yoongi sat for a while, in no real hurry, as he pulled his phone out from the pocket of his jeans. It had vibrated against his leg a few times in quick succession, and a small smile broke as he stared at the new messages in his inbox. 

The first was a picture of a man who regarded the camera in surprise, clearly caught off-guard as he turned in mid-speech to the photographer, his stubby fingers gently freeing a hook from the mouth of a large, slimy-looking trout. The next made his heart skip inexplicably, and he chuckled softly against the palm of his hand. Jeong-sun, out of focus and half-obscured by a thumb on the lens, looked put-out at the small minnow dangling from her own fishing wire. The wide-brimmed hat and khaki body-warmer clearly belonged to her father. Even despite this, her resemblance to him was immediately obvious. 

A firm pressure on Yoongi’s shoulder made him look away, and he lowered the screen discreetly. 

"Are you coming? The taxi’s are here." Jin prompted.

"Yeah…I’ll join you in a minute." He slipped his phone back into his pocket, getting up slowly as he realised that the others had already left. The brief glimpse of Jeong-sun was welcome, but bittersweet. His heart ached, thinking that the next few weeks couldn't pass quickly enough, and how he wished he too could have gone on the trip with her.

***

"Was that him?"

"No." Young-Soon slid her phone back onto the table, her disappointment obvious as she sighed and took a sip of the sparkling, baby pink beverage in front of her. The ice cubes rattled as she set it down, now half-empty, and picked out a fat, red strawberry from the glass and popped it into her mouth. "Just a reminder that my phone bill's due."

"He probably just has the world's biggest hangover." Her colleague, Mi-Ja, commented coolly. 

Young-soon smiled back half-heartedly, unable to find comfort in the thought as an odd sensation of nerves fluttered in her stomach. It was unlike Jungkook to stop responding to her messages and calls, and she couldn't help but shake the feeling that something was wrong.

The group looked up in unison, momentarily startled as a howl of cheers and screams erupted from across the bar. A petite, blonde-haired woman was staggering towards the group in absurdly high heels, balancing a tray of neon-coloured shot glasses and a bottle of ominously clear liquid. Mi-Ja looked up with a smirk, twirling the shocking pink straw idly around her glass. ”Why don't you just try calling him again?" 

Young-soon sighed, sliding her thumb across the screen of her phone. Her boyfriend answered on the third ring. 

“Young-soon?” Came Jungkook’s voice, swallowed slightly by another loud yell from the rowdy table. Young-soon got to her feet, sticking a finger into one ear and wandered over towards the direction of the bathroom. “What's the matter?”

"Nothing... I just wanted to see how you were." She purred, relief flooding her at the sound of him on the other end of the line. "Why didn't you answer before? I was worried."

"I'm fine...I just had it on silent... are you okay ?”

She thought he sounded a little strange, but perhaps this was just the effect of the pink gin. She did feel a little light-headed, now she was alone and away from the sickly sweet smell of the alcohol. 

"Yeah. I'm out with a friend. She's moving floors at work so we're having a few cocktails to celebrate."

"That's nice...” Jungkook said softly, and there was a slight pause before she broke it, enjoying the sound of his breathing through the receiver.

"So did you find anyone to pair up with last night?" 

"What?" The response came, a little sharply, and Young-soon clarified, toying with the fluffy keychain on her purse. 

"At Cassandra's party. You said Yoongi was busy."

Jungkook cleared his throat. "Uhm, there were a lot of people,” He hesitated. After a pause, he sighed heavily and continued. “I really wish you could have been there."

"Me too. I really miss you."He sounded so gloomy, and she rested her head lightly against the velvety texture of the wall by the ladies' bathroom. The solution was suddenly obvious. “Can’t you stay over tonight?"

There was silence. Thinking maybe she had accidentally ended the call, she pulled the phone away from her ear and saw that it was still connected. Young -Soon frowned, her stomach turning unpleasantly. Gently, she called his name, wondering whether he had heard her.

“Uhm, I probably shouldn't..." Came his voice, uneasily. 

"Oh," Young-Soon said, feeling a little stunned. The guilt in his tone was hard to ignore. "Alright.”

She tried hard to listen to him over the sounds of music and merry bar visitors. It was growing steadily rowdier as another large group entered through the double-glass doors, and her head had begun to pound. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine… I just really need to pee.” He replied, a little unconvincingly. “I'll see you on Tuesday."

“Okay, well if you change your mind….” Young-soon sighed, trailing off as a woman in red heels stumbled, cross-legged in her direction. “ I love you.”

“You too. Get home safe.”

The call ended and it had not had the comforting effect that Young-Soon had hoped for. Her fingertips paused over his name in her contacts, but she resisted the urge to call him back, knowing it'd do no good. If her instinct was right, he would likely tell her what was bothering him when he was ready and no sooner than that.

***

Jungkook slipped the phone from his ear listlessly and turned it over on the bedsheet, making the room black once more. He was laid in the dark, the duvet cool as a breeze fluttered over him from the nearby open window. But he couldn't settle.

"JK…?" A familiar voice called, soft and low-pitched, from the other side of the bedroom door. 

Jungkook turned over onto his side, trying to ignore it. He was quite sure that Yoongi would not tell the others, but still, he did not think he could bear to hear whatever he had to say. He felt bad enough. 

After a moment's silence, Yoongi's shadow shifted and disappeared, leaving an uninterrupted strip of light glowing from beneath his door. The sound of chatter and noise drifted over from the living room. He could barely even remember the face of the woman in blue pyjamas anymore. Miserable, he rolled over once more and tried to forget everything.

PART TWO

It took a little longer than usual to dress when Tuesday finally came around. Feeling too sore to keep up with the new routine, Jungkook had skipped practice and instead spent the past hour numbly searching online. The same type of articles and forum posts from teenagers with incredibly bad spelling had kept popping up, and after a while had resigned himself to deleting his browser history and getting dressed. He gingerly adjusted himself beneath the waistband of his jeans. He would have to deal with his little problem later. Grabbing a spare pair of underwear from his cabinet, he shoved them into his gym holdall along with the silver gift bag.

He waited outside her front door, shuffling nervously from foot to foot. When she answered the doorbell a minute or two later, he stepped back automatically, his eyes wide. Young-Soon, her body wrapped in a fluffy lilac towel, looked at him in a little surprise as he corrected himself.

"What's wrong?" She asked, wearily, adjusting her make-shift clothes a little around her breasts.

"You're wearing a towel." Jungkook answered quickly, eyes lingering for a fraction on the pattern of moles disappearing between the crevice of her breasts. 

Her voice was momentarily prickly. "Well, I wasn't ready." But to his intense relief she stepped aside to let him in, knowing that perhaps he should have given her better warning.

"I decided to drive myself. And your neighbor let me in downstairs." He explained, shuffling off his shoes as he closed the door gently behind himself. A large sea-green candle in a glass jar was burning lazily on her coffee table, filling the room with the fresh, clean scent of eucalyptus. Somewhere from the apartment upstairs, the muffled pop music changed into a slow, soulful ballad. Her wet footprints, trailing from the bathroom down the hall, were still visible on the bare wooden floorboards. She had clearly been mid-shower when he had knocked. He couldn't help but watch her as he set down his bag on the coffee table, her long dark hair slightly tangled as she ran her fingers through it and swept it back over her shoulder.

"Is it really that distracting?" Young-Soon asked, catching his gaze as she tugged the towel back up a little. 

She felt strangely self-conscious, wishing in hindsight that she had spent the extra minute or two to dress before answering the door. Her expression softened however when his plump lips parted in a slight stutter, his eyes wide as they flickered to the glistening crevice between her breasts. She moved instinctively towards him, her arms folding around him into the warm, chocolatey fragrance of his skin. Their lips met tentatively and brief. His pulse quickened as she pressed her cheek against his chest, feeling its frantic rhythm. Gently, she kissed the exposed area of his neckline, feeling him sigh deeply at the feel of her lips. Her meaning obvious, she continued to press delicate pecks to his collar and throat, aching for him to reciprocate.

But a firm pressure on her hips held her back, and Young-Soon couldn't help but feel bemused and hurt as he unraveled himself from her and began to unzip the large holdall. Jungkook looked strangely pained and embarrassed as he handed her the silver gift bag.

"I got you something whilst I was in China," he said quickly. She took the package with a quizzical expression, suddenly feeling nervous too as she pulled out a plush panda from tissue paper. "It's from the reserve...the guide says all donations go to their breeding program."

"It's...it's really cute." Young-Soon said blankly, unsure of what else to say.

"Don't you like it?"

Young-Soon shook her head slowly, trying hard to verbalise the suspicion churning in her mind. It wasn't that she didn't appreciate it. Truthfully, it was the nagging feeling that maybe he was trying to keep her at a distance which made her feel so confused."It's not that. It's just...you're being weird."

"No I'm not." Jungkook replied, suddenly abrupt. The defensive edge in his voice took her off-guard, and she met his eyes in surprise, scrutinising him.

"Yeah... you are."

He looked away and gave a shrug. This irritated her, but not wanting to start an argument, she took a deep breath and set his gift on the coffee table.

"I'm going to get changed." She said, a little more coolly than she usually might have done. "You can go through to the bedroom if you want.”

***

She found her boyfriend fiddling with the TV remote when she returned from the bathroom 15 minutes later, wearing a simple pair of spotted pyjama shorts and a loose-fitting shirt. Her period was due in the next week or so, and she felt a little too bloated to opt for the matching tank top. 

Looking up at the sound of her footsteps, he watched as she tied back her now dry hair in a ponytail and settled in the bed next to him. "You don't want to go out?" He asked. 

Young-Soon adjusted the pillows behind herself, shaking her head. "Not really. I hoped it would be just us."

The channel flicked onto a historical drama; judging from the outfits she guessed it was based on the Joseon era, the main actor one she vaguely knew from a series she had enjoyed in her late teens. Jungkook slipped the remote onto the bed-stand, his arm curving behind her. The soft impression of his lips against her hair made her stomach churn guiltily. Up close, Jungkook really did look tired and a little ill, his skin sallow and lacking its usual glow.

"I'm sorry...I didn't mean to snap at you earlier." Young-soon said, awkwardly, shuffling closer into him. "Hormones..."

Jungkook was quiet for a moment. "...You don't have to apologise."

"My mom said that she saw you on TV," She continued, remembering the phone call she had received the previous night. "...When you landed back in Seoul, it was on the news."

"Was it?" He said in mild surprise. The journey from the airport to the private cars had been so brief that the thought of it being news-worthy was a little ridiculous. 

"Yeah. She said my dad decorated my old room and got a larger bed so we can stay over more often. But they know how hard it is for you to get time off."

The mention of her parents, and what should have been a warm gesture, made Jungkook's insides burn. Young-soon's mother and father had accepted him as part of the family without hesitation and he felt ashamed for their trust, his breath growing shallower at the thought as his eyes began to prick with tears. He couldn't bear it.

"Kook...?" She murmured, her blood running cold as she saw the sheen of tears in his eyes. 

“I’ll just be a moment...” He quickly murmured, getting to his feet and heading to the bathroom through the door. 

Young-soon watched him go with an equal amount of confusion and fear. He had looked ghostly pale at the mention of her parents and, when he did not come back a few minutes later, she found herself following in his footsteps, her heart thudding hard as she walked quietly down the hallway. There was a fraction of light spilling from the gap at the edge of the bathroom door from where he had left it slightly ajar in his hurry and she knocked nervously upon the wood, watching as it swung open on its hinges.

It took a moment for Jungkook to notice her in the doorway, allowing a moment for her to regard his pained expression as he clutched himself between his thumb and index finger lightly, his face scrunched up and eyes shut tight as he tried to direct the weak stream into the toilet from his standing position. He gasped, letting out a small, frustrated sound as the flow stopped abruptly before a few more trickles leaked out from the tip and he finally looked up. His eyes widened in horror and he quickly covered himself, swiftly shaking his flaccid cock a couple of times before slipping it into the confines of his boxer shorts.

Young-soon felt her heart sink at the sight, realising immediately what was wrong, despite the part of her which protested against her better judgment that there was probably a simple explanation for this; that everyone got infections from time to time. His guilty look, however, combined with the way he had been acting for the past few days confirmed to her what he had done and she found herself staring at the tiled floor from the shadowy hallway, unable to speak or move until his frantic protest a moment later caused her to look at him once more. 

“Young-soon...” He called out. “I...” 

“Have you been to see a doctor?” She interrupted, her voice strangely numb and empty. He paused at the unexpected sound of her voice, blank and indifferent. He could see from her pasty face and dark eyes that there was no hiding what he had done from her; she had figured it out from the moment she opened the bathroom door and he could no more lie to her than he could himself. He didn’t know how he had expected her to sound, but her calmness frightened more than if she had shouted. 

He hesitated. “Not...not yet.” He said weakly. 

She nodded slowly. “You should.” She murmured. “It looks infected.” She reached out to touch the wooden edge of the doorframe with the palm of her hand, steadying her tall body. “Does it hurt?” She asked.

He paused before nodding, his eyebrows furrowed. She recognised he was worried about this. “Yes.”

“Good.” She muttered collectedly, turning to leave the doorway. 

“Young-soon!” He called after her, his voice panicked. She slowly turned back to him. 

Her emotions were slowly starting to return and she felt a stab of pain at the sight of him. She knew she would be furious in an hour or two, that no amount of camomile tea or Kalms would stop her from hyperventilating in the lofty confines of her bedroom as the events of the evening hit her, but for now, her voice remained serene. 

“Was it while you were in China?” Young-soon asked, wondering whether he would try to lie about this. He surprised her by meeting her gaze as he shook his head. She pressed on, realising when it must have been. He had seemed on edge and uncharacteristically jittery since the party at the country hotel the week before and, even on the phone, a part of her had known something was seriously wrong. “Do you know her?” She continued. 

He shook his head again. “No.”

She thought for a moment, her gaze returning to the floor. “What if you got her pregnant Jungkook?” Her voice trembled, but only a little. “Did you think about that before you put your cock in her?” He was silent and she couldn’t bring herself to look at him, knowing his inevitable panic would set her over the edge. 

Instead, she took a breath of air before turning on her heels and heading down the hallway, hearing his footsteps slowly following a moment later. She reached the front door and unlatched the safety lock, holding it open and waiting for him to catch up. Clenching her jaw tightly to avoid it shaking, she refused to look up, even when he hovered in front of her for a moment, wanting to say something and thinking better of it. She remained silent until he was safely on the other side of the door and she returned the latch to its usual place. 

She hovered for a few minutes, gazing into space as her heart began to slow in her chest, before walking into the kitchen to put on a fresh pot of tea. She forwent the chamomile for a regular black tea bag which she placed into her favourite mug, waiting for the kettle to boil patiently and wondering how she was managing to cope so well in light of what had happened. It wasn’t until she was back on her double bed, vaguely surprised to find that the episode of the drama she had been watching earlier had not yet finished, that the first sob escaped her lips. 

She quickly put down her steaming cup on the bedside table before she had a chance to scold herself, before clutching her palms to her face, her cries echoing through the empty space and bouncing off the decorated plaster of the high ceiling. How could she have been so foolish as to let herself fall for him? She had been so reluctant to do so, knowing he was young and naive and too ridiculously famous for his own good. It had taken her months to acknowledge it, refusing to believe she truly loved him until her entire body ached with it; the thought of his smile making her stomach lurch and groan for hours until she could deny it no more. 

“I didn’t want to...” She found herself sobbing, barely able to hear her own voice, low against her wet hand. “Stupid...stupid...stupid...” She murmured, silencing the blare of the television at the obnoxious sound of credits with the remote and throwing it harshly across the room where it echoed loudly against the bare wooden boards. The worst part, she thought as she wrapped her body in her warm piles of covers, her tea quickly forgotten as she pulled a warm patchwork blanket over her torso, was that the thought of him in pain had made her stomach pang miserably, despite what she had said to him. The sight of him, clutching himself so pathetically as he dealt with the aftermath of his grotesque misjudgment, had filled her simultaneously with anger and pity. How did he hold the power to do that to her? 

She wondered if he would try to call and if she should turn her device off, before realising she had left it in the living room earlier that day. Too far away to bother with it, she wrapped herself up in a cocoon of bedsheets, unable to stand being awake a single moment longer. She urged sleep to come quickly. 

PART THREE

Despite waking up two hours after the start of her shift, Young-soon considered going in to work the next day if only to distract herself. She had booked the day off as holiday time, hoping to spend it with her boyfriend, but the thought of being alone in her apartment filled her with dread. She got dressed in a smart pair of trousers and a patterned blouse, filling the kettle with a fresh bout of water to boil for her morning cup of tea, before a thought occurred to her. She didn’t know if it was the sight of the cold liquid in her mug from the evening before or the loose AA battery she trod on as she tried to find her work shoes, the little cylinder having been dislodged from the remote control she had lobbed at the floor, but the image of Jungkook, his features scrunched up tightly in distress, flashed before her eyes and she sighed heavily, opening up her laptop.

A quick search gave her an address and she jotted it on her phone in the notes app., followed by a brand name. On her way to the front door, a large object on the table caught her eye and she wondered how she had missed seeing it last night after letting Jungkook out of the apartment. Slowly, she pulled the stuffed panda from the confines of the bag and regarded it listlessly. Refusing to let herself get upset again, she slid it back in and walked through to her bedroom, discarding it at the back of her wardrobe, behind a messy pile of unironed clothes. 

Getting into her car ten minutes later, she inputted the address she had found on the internet into her satnav and headed towards Eunpyeong-gu. The pharmacy had been the closest which sold the product she was looking for without a doctor’s note according to the search engine on her computer, but she looked around the store anxiously before entering as a matter of course; Wednesday mornings were clearly not the busiest time of day to be a pharmacist. She walked over to the counter at the far end of the room, passing through the aisles of medicine and toiletries before fishing in her jacket pocket for her phone.

The young woman hovering awkwardly behind the stacks of prescriptions looked barely old enough to have left school but one quick look around the room told Young-soon she was the only person serving today. She was bent down, shifting through a tray filled with cardboard boxes of pills and didn’t look up until Young-soon cleared her throat a little impatiently. Smiling shyly, the girl muttered an apology before heading towards the counter and asking if she could be of service. Young-soon showed her the screen of her phone, trying to show an air of indifference as, expectedly, the young woman blushed. Despite having been able to foresee this detail, Young-soon found it irritating and wished she had been served by someone older.

“I searched online...it said you stock these.” The older woman murmured cooly as the girl practically squirmed before nodding. 

“Yeah, sure. I’ll just be a moment...” She promptly disappeared into the back room behind the boxes of prescriptions and disappeared from view. Young-soon pocketed her cell and waited, shifting around anxiously at the sound of the bell over the front door tingling as an elderly male entered the store. She sighed and moved from foot to foot as he moved slowly past the glass cabinet of fragrances, walking with a cane towards the medicine aisle. Glancing back at the stockroom, she mentally cursed the young woman for taking so long before breathing a sigh of relief when she came into view. 

“I’m sorry I took so long...” The young woman muttered, clutching something in her hand. “My colleague usually covers the stockroom but she’s in Gwangju...” She explained clumsily, more to herself than the woman on the other side of the counter as she placed the box down on the mock-marble countertop.

“Thanks.” Young-soon murmured indifferently, casting a quick glance to the front of the store and letting out a slow exhalation as she saw the elderly man was still a distance from the pair. 

“I knew we had them around there somewhere...” The girl smiled nervously, turning the box over to read the instructions on the back. “So, uhm...you can get an accurate chlamydia screening with a urine sample...” She explained painfully, her cheeks stained pink as she squinted a little to read the small text. “If you bring it back to a registered health practice you can get the results in five to ten days.”

Young-soon listened politely but felt herself growing frustrated as she removed her purse from her small leather handbag. She could just have easily paid for the item and read the back of the box by herself in the comfort of her car.

The girl continued. “ But for gonorrhea, a urine sample only works for men. It is recommended that women are tested via vaginal swab...”

Young-soon handed over the correct change in deliberately small notes as she took the box from the woman. “It’s not for me...” She snapped coldly as she turned to leave.

“Wait...” The girl called weakly after her, clutching the handful of change. The older woman turned. “You’ll want a bag for that...”

Young-soon sighed, accepting the carrier and heading out into the deserted streets. She suddenly felt a pang of guilt for snapping at the girl and creating more work for her, realising as she walked towards her hastily parked car that it wasn’t her fault the person she loved had cheated and gotten himself an infection. The situation was almost laughable; she looked at the bag in her hand with perplexity. A shrink would have a field day questioning why she had just bought a chlamydia test for a man who had betrayed her.

Shaking her head, she buckled her belt and tossed the bag on the back seat, adjusting the satnav on her dashboard to input a new address.

*

Young-soon didn’t notice Yoongi’s eyes dart towards the carrier bag in her hand as she hovered awkwardly on the doorstep to the group’s shared apartment. He hesitated before speaking, recognising the logo in the centre immediately. She noted that he looked vaguely surprised to see her, though she didn’t believe Jungkook would have the nerve to admit his blunder to the other members so soon.

“He’s in his room.” The man muttered, side-stepping carefully and opening the front door wide for her to enter. 

“Thanks Yoongi.” She replied as he closed the door behind her, his socked feet almost silent against the carpet as he re-attached the safety lock and headed into the adjoined kitchen. 

Hoseok looked up from the steaming bowl of stew he had finished dishing up at the sound of the door opening and handed it to Yoongi, turning back to the counter to get his own. “Who was that?” The younger man asked, contemplating a clean set of chopsticks before settling on a spoon to capture the sauce. 

“Young-soon.” He murmured, not expecting the other man to pick up on his surprise. He had slept through most of the party, after all. 

“Oh.” Hoseok said, taking a slurp.

They ate in silence for a few moments before the younger man spoke up. “When does Jeong-sun get back from her trip?”

Yoongi paused, his spoon mid-way between his parted lips. The mention of his girlfriend was unexpected, even from his best friend, and he tried to swallow the stew as quickly as he could. “Not until Friday.” He murmured. 

“Oh.” Hoseok thought for a moment, realising the implication. “That’s a shame.”

“Yeah.” Yoongi nodded before taking another spoonful of food, closing the matter before it had the chance to take root and make his chest ache. 

*

Young-soon knocked quietly upon the door, her action causing an unexpected and unpleasant moment of deja vu. She fought through it and opened without waiting for a reply, the door revealing Jungkook’s room in a state of chaos. At first she worried that he had thrown half of the contents of his wardrobe on the floor in anger; piles of shirts and jeans lay messily around the carpet, rendering it virtually invisible. Her eyes flicked towards the figure kneeling topless on the floor, Jungkook’s tanned chest visible above the waistband of his plain blue jeans. The sight would usually make her heart flutter, but for now, it felt stony and still in her chest. She realised he was crouching beside a large suitcase and had began the process of packing for his upcoming trip to Japan. 

He looked up and jumped in shock, quickly shuffling through the few items of clothes that had been folded in the case for a t-shirt to cover himself. She waited dispassionately for him to dress. His hair was unbrushed and slightly wavy and he ran his hand through it agitatedly as he got to his feet. 

“Young-soon...” He stumbled, taking an automatic step towards her as she closed the door firmly behind her, making sure she heard the sound of it clicking in the frame. “What are you doing here?” He asked. 

She looked at him for a moment, her eyes dark and troubled beneath her eyebrows before they flickered to the floor. “When do you go away?” She asked, her voice nonchalant.

He followed her gaze to the suitcase hesitantly. “Tomorrow evening.”

“Oh.” She murmured, reaching out to give him the carrier bag. “I got you this...” He grasped it from her automatically as she continued. “The instructions are on the back.”

The cold tone of her voice alerted him to the fact that whatever was in the carrier was not a gift, but he was surprised to read the label as he pulled it from the plastic. He stared at it stupidly, unable to speak. 

“Just...follow them.” Young-soon sighed, frustrated with herself as she turned towards the door and grasped the handle. “And make an appointment with the doctor.” She turned the knob and stepped into the hallway, closing the door before Jungkook had the chance to follow her out.


End file.
